Zainab Ado Bayero, one of the daughters of the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, did not make good use of the money Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf offered her, according to sources.

In June, Yusuf had responded to an emergency cry for help of the princess who was on the verge of being evicted from a Lagos apartment alongside her brother and mother.

In a statement, the governor’s spokesperson, Mr. Sanusi Dawakin Tofa, had narrated how he visited Lagos in the early hours of Tuesday 25th June, 2024 to meet with the General Manager of the apartment where the Ado Bayero family had lived since early this year, and met with Mr. Sunel Kumar, owner of the apartment, who had vowed to evict them.

According to the governor’s spokesman, while the debt was offset, some money was given to Zainab.

Back then, Zainab, who said she alongside her brother and mother had been facing difficult times since the demise of the late Emir of Kano, thanked the Governor for the gesture.

“You came at the right time, we were about to be forcefully evicted from the facility for our inability to pay the rent, they said today is final, we must move out by 3:00 pm and you came just fifteen minutes to the time, they have already mobilised youths to remove us out of the apartment, Alhamdulillah for your arrival,” she had said.

However, two months later, Zainab came out again to solicit for support for her family, saying the money given by the Kano State Governor wasn’t enough to take care of their expenses.

In an interview with Premium Times on Friday, Zainab said her family has been going through difficult time trying to survive.

She added that their hotel booking had expired, and they would have to check out on Saturday, August 23, with no place to stay.

The princess said she learnt the governor was planning to get her family a house in Kano, but they would prefer a N150 million residence in Lagos.

“We’ve been trying to survive and find ways to get back on our feet and return to a proper environment—to have a home, not renting or moving from hotel to hotel. We would love the governor to help us buy or give us money to get a house here in Lagos.”

“Since our father’s death, we believe it would be better to relocate to Lagos and start a new life for safety and freedom and to live our lives the way we want. However, with the current skyrocketing prices, we’re looking at around N150 million for a house in Lagos… What he gave us wasn’t enough to rent a house for a year. So, we’ve been trying to find a place, but the funds aren’t sufficient. We’re in the same situation again” she said in the interview.

However, some officials close to the Kano State government contradicted the princess, saying Governor Yusuf gave enough money to the family but it was squandered.

The sources accused Zainab of mismanaging the money, saying instead of renting a house in Lagos, she (Zainab) focused on other things.

They said the Governor had spent N10m on Zainab and her family.

They said N6m was directly transferred to Zainab’s bank account to settle house rent for one year and other running costs, N1m for relocation from service apartment to rental apartment and N3m for settlement of backlog on accommodation.

But when contacted, Zainab refuted the allegation of squandering the money released by the governor.

“I can’t be in this situation with no home, my brother not in school and we’ll be going out from place to places. I decided to plead with him again. I did an interviews and in those interviews, I thanked him. I’m not blackmailing him but said we need more help to get my brother back to school, to get a home, anything he wants to help us with. I was trying to reach out to him that instead of rent, maybe if he could buy us a home. I was pleading, seeking his assistance. That was why I went back to the media but he felt he has given us enough, he could have just made that clear but not making it seem like I’m greedy or I’m trying to blackmail him. It’s not the case,” she told Daily Trust. (Daily Trust)

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